Draping is the placement of drapes on and around a patient, after the skin of the patient has been prepared for surgery. The purpose of draping is to provide a sterile work area around a surgical site. Drapes function as impervious barriers between non-sterile surfaces and the sterile work area. They allow a team of scrubbed practitioners to work freely, without risking contamination of the surgical site. Once the patient is draped, sterile equipment is thereafter moved into position, close to the surgical patient.
Often during surgery, changes to the environment and/or information may be needed. For example, adjustments to lighting, room temperature, music, patient positioning, cautery adjustments, tourniquet adjustments, etc. may be requested by one of the scrubbed practitioners (e.g., by the surgeon). In another example, images (e.g., x-rays, photos, diagrams, etc.), procedural data, drug-related facts, and other information may be helpful. Traditionally, one of the scrubbed practitioners (e.g., a nurse or anesthetist) will respond to the surgeon's requests (e.g., by leaving the sterile work area to make the required adjustments and/or to look up the required information at a remote station). Doing so, however, risks contamination of the scrubbed practitioner and/or takes a focus of the practitioner away from the patient. In other instances, an electronic device (e.g., a laptop or notebook computer) may be sterilized and brought into the surgical area for use in making the adjustments and/or displaying the required information. Sterilizing such a device for entry into the surgical area, however, can be a complex and resource-intensive activity.
The drape of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.